Eighty-eight public power systems have earned the American Public Power Association’s Electric Utility Safety Award for safe operating practices in 2007. Terry Huval, chair of the APPA Board of Directors, presented the award on April 22 during the association’s annual Engineering & Operations Technical Conference, held in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“Implementing safe utility practices requires the commitment and hard work of the entire utility,” said Huval, director of utilities for Lafayette, Louisiana, Utilities System. “This collaborative effort to ensure the safety of employees is well demonstrated by these recognized utilities.”

More than 200 utilities entered the annual contest. Entrants were placed in categories according to their number of worker hours and judged for the most incident-free records during 2007. The incidence rate, used to judge contest entries, is based on the number of work-related reportable injuries or illnesses and the number of worker-hours during 2007, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Winners, in eight categories based on size, are available at http://www.appanet.org/files/PDFs/2007safetycontestawards.pdf